Croatian man 'was wrongly convicted of war crimes'

Croatia tried and convicted in absentia the wrong man for war crimes because he shared the same name as the real suspect, the country's justice minister said yesterday.

Authorities realised the mistake when Lt Col Mile Novakovic was arrested on Thursday in Macedonia on a Croatian warrant, Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic said on state television.

But it was a general with the same name that Croatian authorities believe was behind the bombing of the coastal town of Sibenik during the 1991 Croatian war that killed at least a dozen people.

"These things sometimes happen, more often when the court doesn't actually face a defendant," Marinovic said, acknowledging a serious mix-up.

Lt Col Novakovic, a Serb, was tried in absentia in 1995 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The district attorney's office in Sibenik realised that there were two men with the same name but different rank fighting on the rebel side during the war - and that the wrong one was convicted, the TV said.